daughters of the witching hill

British Folk Magic & Familiar Spirits

Posted on Feb 25, 2012 in cunning folk, daughters of the witching hill, pendle witches, witchcraft | 1 comment

British Folk Magic & Familiar Spirits

In popular imagination, the figure of a witch is accompanied by her familiar, a black cat. Is there any historical authenticity behind this cliché? Our ancestors in the 16th and 17th centuries believed that magic was real. Not only the poor and ignorant believed in witchcraft and the spirit world—rich and educated people believed in spellcraft just as strongly. Cunning folk were men and women who used charms and herbal cures to heal, foretell the future, and find the location of stolen property. What they did was illegal—sorcery was a hanging offence—but few were arrested. The need for the...

Read More

New Year, New Book

Posted on Jan 22, 2011 in daughters of the witching hill, pendle witches | Comments Off on New Year, New Book

New Year, New Book

DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL, my novel exploring the true story of the Pendle Witches of 1612, is now out in paperback.The wild, brooding landscape of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, Northern England, my home for the past nine years, gave birth to my novel, DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL, which tells the true story of the Pendle Witches.In 1612, seven women and two men from Pendle Forest were hanged for witchcraft, but the most notorious of the accused, Bess Southerns, aka Mother Demdike, cheated the hangman by dying in prison. This is how Thomas Potts, describes her in THE WONDERFULL...

Read More

Writing Women Back into History

Posted on Oct 22, 2010 in daughters of the witching hill, historical fiction, pendle witches, women's history | 2 comments

Writing Women Back into History

This illustration, from Wikipedia Media Commons, depicts medieval women hunting. This article of mine was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Solander Magazine, published by the Historical Novel Society.We have been lost to each other for so long. My name means nothing to you. My memory is dust. This is not your fault or mine. The chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed into the keeping of men, who had no way of knowing. That is why I became a footnote, my story a brief detour between the well-known history of my father and the celebrated chronicle of my...

Read More

Interview with Katherine Howe!

Posted on Jun 2, 2010 in daughters of the witching hill, katherine howe, pendle witches, physick book of deliverance dane, salem witches, witchcraft | 1 comment

This interview is published on Amazon.com.Katherine Howe is the bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and a descendant of both Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the Salem witch trials, and Elizabeth Howe, who did not. Read her interview with Mary Sharratt, author of Daughters of the Witching Hill: Katherine Howe: I am so looking forward to learning more about Daughters of the Witching Hill. As I started the book, I was curious about something. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane covers some well-worn territory in American history: the Salem witch trials, which we all...

Read More

Daughters of the Witching Hill: What the critics are saying

Posted on Mar 30, 2010 in daughters of the witching hill, pendle witches | Comments Off on Daughters of the Witching Hill: What the critics are saying

Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharrattpublished April 7, 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt“Gorgeously imagined . . . . Sharratt crafts her complex yet credible account by seamlessly blending historical fact, modern psychology, and vivid evocations of the daily life of the poor whose only hope of empowerment lay in the black arts.”-Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review“What makes this story stand out are the strong voices of the two main characters, stalwart Bess Southerns (aka Demdike) and her feisty granddaughter Alizon Device . . . . a fascinating tale. The story unfolds without...

Read More

Daughters of the Witching Hill: The Launch Party

Posted on Mar 30, 2010 in daughters of the witching hill, pendle witches | Comments Off on Daughters of the Witching Hill: The Launch Party

Daughters of the Witching Hill: The Launch Party

Daughters of the Witching Hillpublished April 7 by Houghton Mifflin HarcourtWhat a voice Mary Sharratt has. She brings a haunting, ancient story to life. –Karleen Koen The wild, brooding landscape of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, Northern England, my home for the past seven years, gave birth to my new novel, Daughters of the Witching Hill, which reveals the true and unforgettable story of the Pendle Witches of 1612.Take a sneak peak of the novel Who were the Pendle Witches of 1612?Read what the critics are sayingJoin me on my traditional and virtual book tourWatch my docudrama of the...

Read More